Month: January 2021

The Nintendo Switch remains an extremely hot console–figuratively, of course–nearly four years after its launch, and this is especially true in Japan. The console appears to have accounted for a remarkable 87% of all consoles sold in the country during 2020, even with the launch of two newer systems at the end of the year.

According to Famitsu and shared via GamesIndustry.biz, about 6.85 million consoles were sold in Japan during the year–that’s all game consoles put together. Of those, 5.9 million were either the Nintendo Switch or the Switch Lite, while the PS4 and PS5 combined to sell about 798,000 units. This leaves very little room for other consoles to reach that 6.85 million number, and with the Xbox brand not having much weight in Japan, that’s to be expected.

Overall, the Nintendo Switch has sold more than 68 million systems worldwide, and it should overtake the Nintendo 3DS in 2021. It has already eclipsed the 3DS in terms of software sales, as it has become an extremely popular platform for third-party and indie developers. The Switch’s predecessor, the Wii U, only managed a little over 13.5 million units sold during its lifetime, while the Wii still stands as Nintendo’s best-selling home console with more than 100 million systems sold.

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Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the realistic weaponry of Escape From Tarkov, including the KRISS Vector submachine gun, the Mosin Nagant rifle, and the SIG MCX assault rifle.

Hitman 3 is offering players the chance to play the entire “World of Assassination” trilogy within one game client, with levels from the first two games available for import. This content is free to those who bought the console games, but it’s going to cost you if you plan to play on PC.

In the game’s official pre-launch guide, IO Interactive explained the game’s Access Pass system, which is what will give you free access to previous Hitman games’ content if you own them. On PlayStation and Xbox, this is possible by going into the in-game store for Hitman 2 and claiming the Access Pass, which also means you won’t have to keep the disc in your system to use this content with Hitman 3.

Because the PC version of Hitman 3 is only going to be available on the Epic Games Store at launch–a place Hitman 2 is not available–you cannot get the Access Pass for free. However, it will be available for 80% off during the first two weeks the game is available. The content from the 2016 Hitman is available to anyone who buys Hitman 3 on the Epic Games Store within the first 10 days. Anyone who redeemed the first game when it was free earlier on Epic Games Store will also get access to it in Hitman 3 for free on PC, even if it’s past that window.

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In the wake of the tumultuous launch of Cyberpunk 2077, several CD Projekt Red employees have spoken out about the game’s development and how it could have been released in such a rough, unfinished state. The problems appear to stem not only from unrealistic development expectations, but also a marketing campaign that seemed destined to over-promise on the final product.

Speaking to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, an anonymous member of the Cyberpunk 2077 development team said a major issue stemmed from the game’s engine being created simultaneously with the game. They likened it to putting down tracks in front of a moving train to keep it from crashing, instead of building the track first. The game’s development didn’t begin in earnest until around 2016, despite being announced several years earlier, as most of CD Projekt Red continued work on The Witcher 3.

The game’s state at launch would have been derided no matter what fans’ expectations were–a game crashing over and over again and simply not working properly will do that–but matters weren’t helped by its marketing and E3 debut. The demonstration we saw at E3 2018 contained material that wouldn’t be released in the final game, with the release date announced at the same time seen as unreasonable, according to the report. The anonymous employees who spoke to Bloomberg said they felt 2022 would be a more reasonable release window.

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